Until next time...

I hope Meera and Ali have returned home safely. Amanda should now be in Tanzania, enjoying the sun and water. I miss the rest of the team already! The past 3 weeks have simply flown by.

Last Friday, both teams presented findings and recommendations to the Ministry of Health, the Uganda Communications Commission, and Microcare. The meetings lasted 2 hours, with plenty of time for discussion, and the Ministry seemed genuinely interested in what we had to say. They were especially surprised by our reports on the conditions in Nakaseke; at the previous meeting, they expressed their belief that Nakaseke was "ok" and were shocked to learn that there was only spotty network, inconsistent electricity, poor roads, and a lack of supplies and staff. George Sharffenberger, Executive Director of the Blum Center, also presented on the Blum Center for Developing Economies and its role in this project. Afterwards, we met with the Member of Parliament for the Nakaseke District, who also happens to be the Minister of Gender. For the most part, it seems like everyone is interested in continuing to support the work that is being done and the next steps for us are to continue information and document retrieval and hold "healthy discussions", a favorite term of the Celtel COO, with potential partners about the possibility of a pilot. I am sad that the on-site part of this research project is over so soon, but as Meera said, who knows what opportunities will arise going forward. We will keep in contact with all the wonderful people we have met and maybe one day we will get a chance to come back.

I wish I had some more pictures to post, but unfortunately my camera was spoiled, as they say here, before I left Berkeley. Rest assured, though...the rest of the team will be uploading all the pictures soon and we will post a link on this blog. Stay tuned!